1887. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 171 
Mr. L. H. PamMet, of the Shaw School of Botany at St. Louis, has 
distributed a pamphlet, reprinted from vol. xv of the Trans. Minn. Hort. 
oc.,on the weeds of Southwest Wisconsin and Southeast Minnesota. 
An account of the prolificacy, vitality, dissemination and migration of 
weeds is followed by a list of eighty-eight species, with remarks, a table 
showing the native country of each, and a list of papers consulted. The 
species are those of the region of La Crosse. 
E SUMMER INSTITUTE at Martha’s Vineyard, which holds a five 
weeks’ session beginning early in July, continues its botanical me pai 
ment under the able management of Mr. Edward S. Burgess, of Wash- 
ington. The courses are graded to meet the requirements of students of 
. algee, histology, etc. The department of microscopy, conducted by Rev. 
ing, also gives attention to vegetable histology and to technics. 
: E TEMPERATURE Of the stems of plants at the surface of the ground 
is found by Mr. E. S. Goff (Agric. Science, vol. I, p. to be greatly in- 
: Oo ; 
soil. Observations on the cabbage, tomato and corn were specially in- 
structive, as they respectively represent deep, medium and shallow habits 
of root feeding. 
Dr. OLIVER WenDELL Hotes takes an interest in trees, and large 
ones in particular. In a recent visit to England he measured a Scotch 
. 
at five feet from the ground, growing larger above an 
Dr. F. Gravet has translated from the Danish into French a paper 
by C. Jensen on the analogous variations of the Sphagnacew. The author 
points out the fact that the interminable variations of these mosses are 
reducible to certain form-series under each species which are closely 
analogous. These forms are traced by the author to their external 
Causes as far as possible. Thus plants growing entirely under water ex- 
hibit certain peculiarities, and these variations are so similar under the 
